U.S. patent number 6,430,603 [Application Number 09/301,102] was granted by the patent office on 2002-08-06 for system for direct placement of commercial advertising, public service announcements and other content on electronic billboard displays.
This patent grant is currently assigned to World Theatre, Inc.. Invention is credited to Charles Eric Hunter.
United States Patent |
6,430,603 |
Hunter |
August 6, 2002 |
**Please see images for:
( Certificate of Correction ) ** |
System for direct placement of commercial advertising, public
service announcements and other content on electronic billboard
displays
Abstract
Commercial advertisers, such as consumer product companies and
the advertising agents that represent them, directly access a
network of thousands of large, high resolution electronic displays
located in high traffic areas and directly send their own
advertisements electronically to the network to be displayed at
locations and times selected by the advertisers.
Inventors: |
Hunter; Charles Eric (Hilton
Head Island, SC) |
Assignee: |
World Theatre, Inc.
(Morrisville, NC)
|
Family
ID: |
23161954 |
Appl.
No.: |
09/301,102 |
Filed: |
April 28, 1999 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
709/207;
348/E7.063; 348/E7.071; 709/217; 709/219; 709/227 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q
30/02 (20130101); G06Q 30/0254 (20130101); G06Q
30/0264 (20130101); G06Q 30/0267 (20130101); G06Q
30/0273 (20130101); G06Q 30/0277 (20130101); H04N
7/165 (20130101); H04N 7/17318 (20130101); H04N
21/2543 (20130101); H04N 21/26258 (20130101); H04N
21/41415 (20130101); H04N 21/47202 (20130101); H04N
21/812 (20130101); H04N 21/8153 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G06Q
30/00 (20060101); H04N 7/16 (20060101); H04N
7/173 (20060101); G06F 015/16 () |
Field of
Search: |
;709/207,217,218,219,227,234,238,240 ;705/26,27 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Other References
Steven A. Morley, "Making Digital Cinema Actually Happen -What It
Takes and Who's Going to Do It", Qualcomm Incorporated, Oct. 31,
1998..
|
Primary Examiner: Peeso; Thomas R.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow,
Garrett & Dunner, LLP
Claims
I claim:
1. A system permitting commercial advertisers to directly place
video or still image advertisements at selected times and locations
on a network of multiple electronic displays, said system
comprising: a network including a plurality of electronic displays
located in high traffic areas such as areas of high vehicular
traffic, indoor and outdoor areas with high pedestrian traffic,
movie theaters, restaurants, sports arenas and casinos; at least
one central information processing station including: means
permitting commercial advertising customers of the system to review
a schedule of times and electronic display locations that are
available for placement of advertisements and permitting customers
to purchase available times at desired electronic display locations
for placement of their advertising content; means for receiving
customer transmitted video or still image advertising content;
means for transmitting the advertising content received from the
customer to the customer-selected electronic display location; and
means for driving each selected electronic display to display the
customer's advertising content at the customer-selected time.
2. The system of claim 1 wherein at least a substantial number of
electronic displays are LED displays.
3. The system of claim 2 wherein each electronic display has its
own dedicated server that receives advertising content information
from the central information processing station and drives its
respective electronic display to display the customer's advertising
content at the customer-selected time.
4. The system of claim 1 wherein the mode of transmission for said
means for transmitting the advertising content to the
customer-selected electronic display is selected from the group
consisting of high speed cable, satellite, dedicated phone, high
speed line (e.g., ISDN), cellular, Internet, radio/radio pulse
transmission and high speed optical fiber.
5. The system of claim 1 wherein said central information
processing system includes a customer interface web server
permitting public Internet access to the system.
6. The system of claim 1 including means for permitting review of
customer advertising content before the content is transmitted to
the customer-selected electronic display.
7. The system of claim 1 including means for generating a bill for
the advertising time.
8. The system of claim 1 including means for generating a report to
be sent to the customer confirming that an advertisement has run as
ordered.
9. The system of claim 8 wherein said means for generating a report
serves to generate demographic or market analysis.
10. The system of claim 1 wherein at least a substantial number of
said electronic displays have associated cameras.
11. A system providing video or still image advertisements at
selected times and locations on a network of multiple electronic
displays, said system comprising: a network including a plurality
of electronic displays located in high traffic areas such as areas
of high vehicular traffic, indoor and outdoor areas with high
pedestrian traffic, movie theaters, restaurants, sports arenas and
casinos; at least one central information processing station
including: means permitting advertising customers of the system to
purchase time slots at selected electronic display locations for
display of their advertising content; means for transmitting
customer advertising content to the selected electronic display
locations; and means for driving the electronic display at each
selected location to display the customer's advertising content at
the selected time.
12. A method of providing video or still image advertisements at
selected times and locations on a network of multiple electronic
displays that are located in high traffic areas such as areas of
high vehicular traffic, indoor and outdoor areas with high
pedestrian traffic, movie theaters, restaurants, sports arenas and
casinos; permitting advertising customers of the system to purchase
time slots at selected electronic display locations for display of
their advertising content; transmitting customer advertising
content to the selected electronic display locations; and driving
the electronic display at each selected location to display the
customer's advertising content at the selected time.
13. A system for presenting video or still-image content at
selected times and locations on a networked connection of multiple
electronic displays, said system comprising: a network
interconnecting a plurality of electronic displays provided at
various geographic locations; means for scheduling the presentation
of video or still-image content at selected time slots on selected
electronic displays of said network and receiving said video or
still-image content from a content provider; transmission means in
communication with said receiving means for communicating scheduled
content to respective server devices associated with corresponding
selected electronic displays of said network, each said associated
device initiating display of said video or still-image content at
selected times on a corresponding selected electronic display of
said network.
14. The system as claimed in claim 13, wherein said geographic
locations include public areas including one or more selected from
the group comprising: areas of vehicular traffic, indoor and
outdoor areas with pedestrian traffic, movie theaters, restaurants,
sports arenas and casinos.
15. The system of claim 13, wherein said content includes one or
more of public service announcements, news, or sporting events.
16. The system of claim 13, wherein said means enabling a content
provider to schedule presentation of video or still-image content
at selected time slots on selected electronic displays of said
network includes a central processing server for receiving said
video or still-image content from said content provider and
initiating said communication of said video or still-image content
to a selected electronic display for displaying said content at the
selected times.
17. The system of claim 16, wherein said central processing server
comprises means for enabling said content provider to view time
slots for each electronic display location that are available for
placement of said video or still-image content, and additionally
enabling said content provider to purchase one or more available
time slots at selected electronic display locations for presenting
said content.
18. The system of claim 16, further comprising means in connection
with said central processing server for enabling a review of
received video or still image content prior to transmission to said
associated server device of said selected electronic display, said
content being transmitted to said selected electronic display upon
reviewer approval of said content.
19. The system of claim 17, further comprising an interface server
device for providing Internet access to said central processing
server and enabling remote viewing, scheduling and purchasing from
remote locations.
20. The system of claim 19, further including a security device for
enabling said content provider to obtain and enter security code
and billing code information to identify said content provider
prior to accessing said system.
21. The system of claim 16, further including dedicated high-speed
connection to said security device for enabling high-usage content
providers to access the system.
22. The system of claim 19, wherein said video or still-image
content is transmitted to said central processing server according
to a mechanism selected from the group comprising: on-line through
the Internet, a direct phone line, and, a high speed information
transfer line.
23. The system of claim 16, wherein said still image or video
content is formatted according to one format selected from the
group comprising: NTSC, PAL, SECAM, YUV, YC, and VGA.
24. The system of claim 18, wherein each server device associated
with a corresponding electronic display receives said content from
said receiving means and provides functionality for driving said
electronic displays, said content being transmitted to a server
device associated with a selected display upon approval of said
content to be displayed.
25. The system of claim 24, wherein said transmission means is
selected from the group comprising: high speed cable, a satellite
link, a dedicated phone connection, a high-speed communications
line, a cellular or PCS data transmission device, the Internet, a
radio or radio pulse transmission device, a high speed optical
fiber, and physical delivery of a medium storing said content.
26. The system of claim 25, wherein said medium storing said
content includes one of CD ROM, zip drive or DVD RAM.
27. The system of claim 25, further including a video
converter/scaler mechanism associated with a server device for each
display, said video converter/scaler mechanism enabling any
required reformatting of said content according to said
transmission means implemented.
28. The system of claim 20, further including: means linked to each
electronic display at each location for verifying that scheduled
content for display is presented at the intended time at the
intended display and generating verification information pertaining
thereto; and, means for receiving and storing said verification
information generated by each said verification means.
29. The system of claim 28, wherein said verifying means includes a
digital camera for recording the content appearing at its
respective display.
30. The system of claim 28, wherein a location of said electronic
display includes a location having vehicular traffic, said system
further including a traffic count recorder means linked to each
electronic display for counting amount of traffic passing that
electronic display during a particular time slot and generating
traffic count information for receipt and storage by said storage
means.
31. The system of claim 30, further including a means for receiving
said stored verification and traffic count information, analyzing
said information and generating demographic information for reports
to be sent to content providers after their content is
displayed.
32. The system of claim 31, wherein said video or still-image
content includes an advertisement, said demographic information for
reports comprising information including: a time of the
advertisement, the content of the advertisement, the traffic count,
and residence/median income information about those who may have
viewed the advertisement.
33. The system of claim 28, further including means for generating
bills capable of being transmitted by phone lines to a content
provider.
34. The system of claim 13, wherein said electronic display is high
resolution, full color images utilizing light emitting diodes
(LED's), said LEDs including an ultraviolet LED utilized for
exciting a phosphor coating that produces light of a desired color
spectrum.
35. The system of claim 34, wherein said phosphor coating is
selected to produce white light, said white light being passing
through a band pass filter to produce said desired color
spectrum.
36. The system of claim 35, further including means for performing
diagnostics and calibration of said electronic displays.
37. The system of claim 36, wherein said diagnostics and
calibration means includes one or more digital camera devices aimed
at portions of said display, a portion of each digital camera's
image corresponding to a single pixel in the display, wherein said
digital camera's image is capable of detecting non-functioning or
degraded LED's.
38. The system of claim 36, wherein said diagnostics and
calibration means includes: means for iteratively causing the
display of a color at each color LED at various power levels; and,
means for sensing the optical power output of each color LED for
each power level, said calibrating including determining that each
color LED has the same optical power output at each power level as
other LED's of the same color.
39. The system of claim 36, wherein said diagnostics and
calibration means includes a diode recalibration scaler mechanism
for receiving information from the diagnostic information
indicating the optical power output of each LED at the various
power levels, and, including an associated automatic calibration
LED look-up table for adjusting a power curve by which the LED will
be driven in accordance with detected variances in LED output.
40. The system of claim 36, wherein said diagnostics and
calibration means includes utilizing one or more photodetector
means located in close proximity to each LED in the display for
measuring LED light output during diagnostic/calibration
operations.
41. The system of claim 36, wherein each pixel of said electronic
display includes three colored LED's, said diagnostics and
calibration means operating with an all white display, the display
LEDs at each pixel being evaluated individually and collectively to
assure that the pixel is contributing the proper spectrum and
amount of white light.
42. The system of claim 13, further including means for enabling
split screen images to be displayed at the electronic display.
43. The system of claim 42, wherein said split screen capability is
utilized to present a still image portion of the image in one
display area, and one of real time video, near real time video, or
still frame in a second display area.
44. The system of claim 22, wherein said high speed still image or
video transfer is facilitated by JPEG and MPEG data compression
techniques.
45. The system of claim 16, further including auction sub-system
for enabling available time slots to be auctioned.
46. The system of claim 45, wherein said auction sub-system enables
the purchase of time slots for a set price, and all time not
purchased at the set price becomes available through said auction
sub-system at a fixed time before the run time.
47. The system of claim 16, further including means for
preselecting time slots for display of the content provider's
content at a "best available rate" pricing for those high volume
content providers having establish a monthly budget to purchase a
portion of the available time slots.
48. A method for presenting video or still-image content at
selected times and locations on a networked connection of multiple
electronic displays, said method comprising: a) providing a network
interconnecting a plurality of electronic displays at various
geographic locations; b) enabling a content provider to schedule
presentation of video or still-image content at selected time slots
on selected electronic displays of said network and receiving said
video or still-image content from a content provider; c) providing
a plurality of server devices, each server device associated with a
corresponding electronic display; d) communicating received video
or still-image content to the associated server devices of
corresponding selected electronic displays of said network; and, e)
said server device initiating display of said video or still-image
content at selected times on an associated electronic display of
said network.
49. The method of claim 48, wherein prior to step d) of
communicating scheduled video or still-image content, the steps of:
enabling content providers to view a schedule of times and
electronic display locations that are available for placement of
said content; and, enabling content providers to purchase one or
more available time slots at selected electronic display locations
for placement of their content.
50. The method of claim 48, wherein prior to step d) of
communicating scheduled video or still-image content, the steps of:
providing an appropriateness review of transmitted video or still
image content; and, transmitting said content to said selected
electronic display upon approval of said content.
51. The method of claim 49, further comprising the step of
providing said content provider with Internet access to said system
for enabling viewing, scheduling and purchasing of available time
slots and electronic display locations from remote locations.
52. The method of claim 51, wherein prior to enabling access to
said schedule of times and available electronic display locations,
the step of providing security code and billing code information
for identifying said content provider and authorizing content
provider access to said system.
53. The method of claim 49, further including providing dedicated
high-speed connection to a security device for enabling high-usage
content providers to access the schedule of times and available
electronic display locations.
54. The method of claim 51, wherein said communicating step d)
further includes the step of: enabling a content provider to
transmit said content to a central processing server according to a
mechanism selected from the group comprising: on-line through the
Internet, a direct phone line, and, a high speed information
transfer line.
55. The method of claim 54, further comprising the step of
formatting said still image or video content according to a format
selected from the group comprising: NTSC, PAL, SECAM, YUV, YC, and
VGA.
56. The method of claim 50, wherein a server device comprises one
or more high speed server devices associated with each electronic
display for driving said electronic displays, said method including
transmitting said content to a server device associated with a
selected display upon approval of said content to be displayed.
57. The method of claim 56, wherein said step d) of communicating
scheduled content to the associated server devices further includes
the step of: implementing a transmission mechanism selected from
the group comprising: high speed cable, a satellite link, a
dedicated phone connection, a high-speed communications line, a
cellular or PCS data transmission device, the Internet, a radio or
radio pulse transmission device, a high speed optical fiber, and
physical delivery of a medium storing said content.
58. The method of claim 52, further including the steps of:
verifying that scheduled content for display is presented at the
intended time at the intended display and generating verification
information pertaining thereto; and, receiving and storing in a
storage device said verification information generated by each said
verification means.
59. The method of claim 58, wherein said verifying step includes
implementing a digital camera for recording the content appearing
at its respective display.
60. The method of claim 58, wherein a location of said electronic
display includes a location having vehicular traffic, said method
further including the steps of: linking a traffic count recorder
means to each electronic display for counting amount of traffic
passing an electronic display during a particular time slot; and
generating traffic count information for receipt and storage by
said storage device.
61. The method of claim 60, further including the steps of:
receiving said stored verification and traffic count information;
analyzing said information; and, generating demographic information
for reports to be sent to content providers agents after their
content is displayed.
62. The method of claim 61, wherein said demographic information
for reports comprises information including: a time of the
advertisement, the content of the advertisement, the traffic count,
and residence/median income information about those who may have
viewed the content.
63. The method of claim 58, further including the steps of:
generating bills associated with purchased time slots; and,
transmitting said bills via phone lines to a content provider.
64. The method of claim 49, further including the step of
performing diagnostics and calibration of said electronic
displays.
65. The method of claim 64, wherein said diagnostics and
calibration steps includes: utilizing one or more digital camera
devices aimed at portions of said display, a portion of each
digital camera's image corresponding to a single pixel in the
display; and, detecting non-functioning or degraded LED's from said
digital camera's image.
66. The method of claim 64, wherein said diagnostics and
calibration step includes: iteratively causing the display of a
color at each color LED at various power levels; and, sensing the
optical power output of each color LED for each power level, said
calibrating including determining that each color LED has the same
optical power output at each power level as other LED's of the same
color.
67. The method of claim 64, wherein said diagnostics and
calibration step includes: implementing a diode recalibration
scaler device for receiving information from the diagnostic
information indicating the optical power output of each LED at the
various power levels; and, implementing an associated automatic
calibration LED look-up table for adjusting a power curve by which
the LED will be driven in accordance with detected variances in LED
output.
68. The method of claim 64, wherein said diagnostics and
calibration step includes the step of utilizing one or more
photodetector means located in close proximity to each LED in the
display for measuring LED light output during
diagnostic/calibration operations.
69. The method of claim 64, wherein each pixel of said electronic
display includes three colored LED's, wherein said diagnostics and
calibration step includes: generating an all white display;
evaluating the display LEDs at each pixel individually and
collectively to assure that the pixel is contributing the proper
spectrum and amount of white light.
70. The method of claim 49, further including the step of:
generating split screen images for display at the electronic
display.
71. The method of claim 70, wherein said split screen capability is
utilized for: presenting a still image portion of the image in one
display area, and presenting one of real time video, near real time
video, or still frame in a second display area.
72. The method of claim 54, further including the step of
auctioning auctioning available time slots.
73. The system of claim 72, wherein said auctioning step includes:
enabling the purchase of time slots for a set price, and enabling
all time slots not purchased at the set price to become available
through said auction sub-system at a fixed time before a scheduled
display time.
74. The method of claim 72, further including the step of:
preselecting time slots for display of the agent's content at a
"best available rate" pricing for those high volume content
providers having establish a monthly budget to purchase a portion
of the available time slots.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to systems permitting advertisers to target
geographical regions and demographic groups with ever changing,
current advertising content without incurring the high fixed cost
of traditional single-message billboards. More particularly, the
invention relates to a system and method permitting commercial
advertisers, such as consumer product companies and the advertising
agents that represent them, to directly access a network of
thousands of large, high resolution electronic displays located in
high traffic areas and to directly send their own advertisements
electronically to the network to be displayed at locations and
times selected by the advertiser.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Consumer product advertising takes many forms, such as television
commercials, newspaper and magazine advertisements, mailings,
point-of-sale displays, outdoor billboards, etc. Using current
advertising media, advertisers engage in a constant struggle to
efficiently use their budgets to most effectively reach their
geographic and demographic targets.
Focusing on the outdoor advertising component of advertising by
consumer product companies, it is well known that outdoor
billboards have traditionally taken the form of single-message
displays formed of printed sheets or painted surfaces containing
the advertising content adhered to a flat backing. This
time-honored outdoor advertising technique has remained essentially
unchanged throughout the twentieth century. The high cost of
printing, transporting and mounting a message on a conventional
billboard has dictated that the same message remain in place for a
considerable period of time. Thus, a conventional billboard cannot
be readily changed to reflect current events within the geographic
area of the billboard. Additionally, the content on a conventional
billboard tends to become essentially "invisible" as a part of the
landscape after its content has been in place for a relatively
short period of time, especially to commuters and others who
regularly pass the billboard. Beyond the above problems with cost,
single-message content, lack of content changeover capability, and
the like, conventional outdoor billboards have come under
increasing criticism because in their large numbers, and often
tattered condition, they clutter highways with a distasteful form
of visual "pollution". A reduction in the number of billboards and
improvement of the appearance of those that remain, if accomplished
while increasing the overall advertising impact afforded by outdoor
advertising, would please virtually everyone.
The use of electronic billboards has been suggested, for example,
in U.S. Pat. No. 5,612,741. However, there is no electronic
billboard network in operation whereby commercial advertisers may
directly place ads onto selected billboards at selected times
through direct access to a master network. Such a network, properly
designed and operated, promises to overcome the numerous
disadvantages currently associated with the outdoor advertising
industry, while also meeting the above-enumerated needs of consumer
products advertisers.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, commercial advertisers, such as
consumer product companies and the advertising agents that
represent them, directly access a network of multiple large, high
resolution electronic displays located in high traffic areas and
directly send their own advertisements electronically to the
network to be displayed at locations and times selected by the
advertisers. In preferred embodiments, the system of the invention
includes a central information processing center that permits
customers to review a schedule of times and electronic display
locations that are available for placement of advertisements, and
also permits customers to purchase available times at selected
electronic display locations for placement of their advertising
content. The customer then transmits his video or still image
advertising content to the processing center where the content is
reviewed for appropriateness and then transmitted to the
customer-selected electronic display(s). The electronic displays
preferably are large (e.g., 23.times.331/2 ft.) flat LED displays
that are driven by their own video or image servers. Verification
that the advertisements run as ordered is facilitated by an
information storage module or, more preferably, by a digital camera
or series of digital cameras. A traffic counter may be used to
determine the traffic that passed by the display while the
advertisement was running. Bills and reports containing market and
demographic analysis are generated and sent to the customer.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Some of the features of the invention having been stated, other
features will appear as the description proceeds, when taken in
connection with the accompanying drawings, in which
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the principal components of an
electronic display network constructed in accordance with the
present invention.
FIG. 2 is a view of one of the electronic displays of the network
of FIG. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
While the present invention will be described more fully
hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which
aspects of the preferred manner of practicing the present invention
are shown, it is to be understood at the outset of the description
which follows that persons of skill in the appropriate arts may
modify the invention herein described while still achieving the
favorable results of this invention. Accordingly, the description
which follows is to be understood as being a broad, teaching
disclosure directed to persons of skill in the appropriate arts,
and not as limiting upon the present invention.
Referring to the drawings, and particularly to FIG. 1, there is
shown a block diagram of a system 20 for direct placement of
commercial advertisements, public service announcements and other
content on electronic displays. System 20 includes a network
comprising a plurality of electronic displays 30 that are located
in high traffic areas in various geographic locations. The displays
may be located in areas of high vehicular traffic, and also at
indoor and outdoor locations of high pedestrian traffic, as well as
in movie theaters, restaurants, sports arenas, casinos or other
suitable locations. Thousands of displays, up to 10,000 or more
displays worldwide, may be networked according to the present
invention. In preferred embodiments, each display is a large (for
example, 23 feet by 331/2 feet), high resolution, full color
display that provides brilliant light emission from a flat panel
screen.
A customer of system 20, for example an in-house or agency
representative of a consumer products company, may access a central
information processing station of the system via the Internet
through a Customer Interface Web Server 40. The customer interface
web server has a commerce engine and permits the customer to obtain
and enter security code and billing code information into a Network
Security Router/Access module 50. Alternatively, high usage
customers of the system may utilize a high speed dedicated
connection to module 50. Following access, the customer reviews
available advertising time/locations through a Review Schedule and
Purchase Time module 60 that permits the customer to see what time
is available on any display throughout the world and thereafter
schedule and purchase the desired advertising time slot. Next, the
customer transmits the advertising content on-line through the
Internet, a direct phone line or a high speed connection (for
example, ISDN or DSL) for receipt by the system's Video & Still
Image Review and Input module 70. In parallel, the system operator
may provide public service announcements and other content to
module 70. All content, whether still image or video, is formatted
in NTSC, PAL, SECAM, YUV, YC, VGA or other suitable formats.
The video & still image review and input module 70 permits a
system security employee to conduct a content review to assure that
all content meets the security and appropriateness standards
established by the system, prior to the content being read to the
server 100 associated with each display 30 where the content being
transmitted to the server 100 will be displayed. Preferably, the
servers are located at their respective displays and each has a
backup. An example of a suitable server is the IBM RISC 6000
server.
The means for transmitting content information to the display
locations may take a number of forms, with it being understood that
any form, or combination thereof, may be utilized at various
locations within the network. As shown in FIG. 1, the means
include: a. High speed cable b. Satellite c. Dedicated phone d.
High speed line (e.g., ISDN) e. Cellular or PCS f. Internet g.
Radio/radio pulse transmission h. High speed optical fiber.
A video converter/scaler function and a video controller function
provided by module 110 may be utilized in connection with those
servers 100 and associated displays 30 that require them, according
to data transmission practices well known in the art.
Verification that advertisements do, in fact, run at the intended
time at the intended displays may be provided by an information
storage module (not shown) linked to each display. Another form of
verification may be achieved by a Digital Camera and Traffic Count
Recorder 120 that continuously records the content appearing at its
respective display 30 and digitally transmits video verification
information to a Verification Archives module 150. Recorder 120
also provides traffic count information (for example, 225 vehicles
passed the display while an advertisement ran) to verification
archives module 150.
Information from verification archives module 150 is utilized by a
demographic analysis module 160 and a market analysis module 170 to
generate information for reports to be sent to customers after
their advertisements run. To this end, analysis data from modules
160 and 170 is transmitted to a Billing and Report Generation
module 190 where reports are assembled showing, for example, the
time of the advertisement, the content of the advertisement, the
traffic count and residence/median income information about those
who saw the advertisement. A representative, simplified report for
an advertisement running on a single display is as follows:
Customer: ABC Cola Co. Ad Content: Ocean Scene with graphics
(content code 1111) Location: Atlanta, Georgia, Interstate 75 N,
milepost 125 (site code XXXX) Time: 7:30 AM, June 30, 2000 Vehicle
Count: 225 Viewer Count: 340 Viewer Demographics: .cndot. 50%
Resident Cobb County, GA Median household income: $60,000/yr.
.cndot. 30% Resident DeKalb County, GA Median household income:
$52,000/yr. .cndot. 20% Median household income $55,000/yr.
Advertising Cost: $X
For an advertisement that may have run at multiple displays, for
example 100 displays, a representative report may appear as
follows:
Customer: ABC Cola Co. Ad Content: Mountain Scene with graphics
(content code 2222) Locations: 100 sites (site codes YYY....ZZZ)
Time: 8:30 AM, July 10, 2000 Total Vehicle Count: 21,500 Total
Viewer Count: 37,200 Viewer Demographics: Median household income,
$49,500 Advertising Cost: $Y
Module 190 also produces bills that may be transmitted by phone
lines for a debit payment such as a direct bank draft, or other
suitable payment mode.
Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a pictorial view of one
preferred form for the electronic displays 30. In this embodiment,
display 30 takes the form of a 23 feet by 331/2 feet seamless flat
screen display including multiple flat panel display modules. The
panels utilize advanced semiconductor technology to provide high
resolution, full color images utilizing light emitting diodes
(LED's) with very high optical power (1.5-10 milliwatts or greater)
that are aligned in an integrated array with each pixel having a
red, green and blue LED. It will be appreciated that multiple LED's
of a given color may be used at pixels to produce the desired light
output; for example, three 1.5 milliwatt blue LED's may be used to
produce a 4.5 milliwatt blue light output. Each red, green and blue
emitter is accessed with 24 bit resolution, providing 16.7 million
colors for every pixel. An overall display of 23 feet by 331/2
feet, so constructed, has a high spatial resolution defined by
approximately 172,000 pixels at an optical power that is easily
viewable in bright sunlight. Suitable display modules for displays
30 are manufactured by Lighthouse Technologies of Hong Kong, China,
under Model No. LV50 that utilize, for blue and green, InGaN LED's
fabricated on single crystalline Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 (sapphire)
substrates and, for red, superbright AlInGaP LED's fabricated on a
suitable substrate such as GaP. These panels have a useful life in
excess of 50,000 hours, for example, an expected life under the
usage contemplated for network 20 of 150,000 to 200,000 hours and
more. In preferred embodiments, the panels are cooled from the back
of the displays, preferably via a refrigerant-based air
conditioning system (not shown) such as a forced air system or a
thermal convection or conduction system. Non refrigerant-based
options may be used in locations where they produce satisfactory
cooling. The displays preferably have a very wide viewing angle,
for example, 160.degree..
While the Lighthouse Technologies displays utilize the InGaN on
sapphire and AlInGaP on GaP LEDIs described above, other materials
may be used for the LED's as follows: 1. (Blue/green) InGaN on SiC,
preferably with a suitable buffer layer such as AlN 2. (Blue/green)
InGaN on GaN 3. (Blue/green) InGaN on AlN, preferably with a
suitable buffer layer such as AlN.
It will be appreciated that the InGaN on sapphire and the other
solid state LED's described above have substrates with high optical
transmissivity and produce very high optical power. This is
important for a number of reasons, including giving the electronic
display designers the ability to create very wide viewing angles up
to approximately 160.degree., and the resultant increase in
visibility of the displays to viewers in oncoming traffic.
In addition to the particular solid state LED's mentioned above,
the discrete sources of blue, green and red light at each pixel may
take other forms such as composite devices including an ultraviolet
LED that is utilized to excite a phosphor that, in turn, produces
light of a selected spectrum. The ultraviolet LED may be a GaN on
sapphire or GaN on SiC device, preferably with a suitable buffer
layer. In one embodiment, ultraviolet LED's are incorporated into
three different composite devices, each with a different phosphor
for producing blue, green and red, respectively. In another
embodiment, a phosphor is selected to produce white light and a
desired color is produced by passing the white light through a
narrow band pass filter. According to this white-light embodiment,
filters of blue, green and red may be used to create discrete
composite devices that produce blue, green and red light at each
pixel. The use of white light with appropriate narrow band pass
filters has the advantage of producing a colored light with an
excellent wave length distribution that will not change appreciably
over time, a desirable property for color balancing. On the other
hand, the use of three different phosphors to directly produce
blue, green and red without a filter has the advantage of higher
efficiency because light is not filtered out. Both approaches have
the advantage of excellent persistence which, as known in the art,
is a desirable feature that is especially important in video
applications.
It will be appreciated that energy sources other than ultraviolet
LED's may be used to excite the phosphors of the composite devices
discussed immediately above.
The provision of one or more high resolution, highly aligned
digital cameras at each display site, for example the camera or
cameras utilized in digital camera and traffic counter 120, or
other specifically dedicated cameras, provides a means permitting
diagnostics and calibration of the displays. As known in the art,
certain digital cameras have a resolution of over 7,000,000
pixels--as compared to approximately 172,000 pixels on the
above-described 23.times.331/2 ft. display. Thus, by directing a
digital camera at a display, or directing multiple digital cameras
at different discrete portions of a display, a correspondence may
be attained where a portion of each digital camera's image
corresponds to a single pixel in the display. At selected times set
aside for diagnostics and calibration, such as a five minute period
each night, the entire display may be run red, then green, then
blue, followed by white, all at multiple power levels. In the most
basic diagnostic operation carried out when the display is run
red/green/blue, the camera(s), mounted at a selected distance from
the display such as sixty feet away, are capable of detecting
nonfunctioning or excessively degraded LED's for replacement.
Beyond replacing defective LED's, each night the system may
automatically re-calibrate all LED's in the display. To this end,
the display is run red/green/blue at several iterative power levels
(e.g., 20%/40%/60%/80%/100%) and the optical power output of each
LED is sensed for each power level, with the goal being to
calibrate the system so that each red, green or blue LED has the
same optical power output at each power level as do the other LED's
of the same color. Calibration is achieved by diode recalibration
scaler software that may be associated with the video
converter/scaler at 110 (FIG. 1). The diode recalibration scaler
receives information from the diagnostic equipment indicating the
optical power output of each LED at the various power levels and,
through an associated automatic calibration LED look-up table,
accounts for daily variance in LED output (degradation or increase)
by adjusting the power curve by which the LED will be driven the
next day.
As an alternative to using digital cameras for the diagnostic
function, in other embodiments miniature photodector chips, with or
without filters, may be located in close proximity to each LED in
the display for measuring LED light output during
diagnostic/calibration operations.
When the diagnostic operation operates with an all white display,
the three LED's at each pixel may be evaluated individually and
collectively to assure that the pixel is contributing the proper
spectrum and amount of white light. Through a
diagnostic/calibration software package that interrelates output
and peak wave length response for each red/green/blue LED at a
pixel to the desired white light response, an iterative calibration
may be undertaken at each pixel to correctly bias the drivers and
thereby assure correct output.
It will be appreciated that split screen images may be displayed at
the displays 30. In the simplest application, a still image
advertisement may be one half corporate logo and one half scenery.
Beyond this simple application, split screen capability may be used
to present a portion of the image as a corporate logo, or the like,
and the remainder either real time (or near real time) video or
still frame. For example, a previously qualified customer with
acceptable internal content review procedures may have direct
access to a display or displays for the purpose of displaying a
real time (or near real time) sports event, news event, or the
like, in conjunction with the customer's corporate logo. This
display may be achieved by utilizing high speed servers 100 or by
bypassing the servers altogether. High speed still image or video
transfer may be facilitated by compression techniques such as JPEG
and MPEG II, known in the art.
While advertising scheduling and purchasing may take place as
described above where customers directly purchase time from
available slots according to a fixed fee schedule, it will be
appreciated that alternative modes may be used. For example, an
auction system such as introduced by eBay Corporation may be used
where all available slots are auctioned (a "total" auction).
Additionally, a limited auction may be utilized where time may be
purchased and booked for a set price, but all time not purchased at
the set price becomes available through auction at a fixed time
before the run time, for example, one month before run time. As
another alternative for a portion of the available time slots, a
high usage customer may establish a monthly advertising budget with
the system operator that authorizes the operator to select the time
slots for display of the customer's advertisements at "best
available rate" pricing, taking advantage of last minute
availability of time slots and other time slot placement techniques
that enable the operator to more completely utilize the network.
This or similar time slot placement practices when used for a
portion of the available time slots may be implemented by a
software package that takes into account the needs of both the
customer and the system operator.
It will be appreciated that advertising content information may be
transmitted to the electronic display locations by physically
delivering an information storage device such as CD ROM, zip drive
or DVD RAM to the location in those cases where the location may be
remote, or for other reasons.
While the present invention has been described with reference to
specific embodiments, it will be appreciated that modifications may
be made without departing from the true spirit and scope of the
invention.
* * * * *